During the 1970s there was a feeling that money should be spent on improving the golf course rather than upgrading the Clubhouse. By 1980, however, it was realised that something had to be done to cater to the needs of an expanded membership and staff.

“During the 1980s, several planning committees developed proposals for the Clubhouse which were all rejected by the membership for a variety of reasons:

• a tradition of avoiding debt;
• not enough architectural detail;
• financial plan unsatisfactory;
• questions regarding priorities in the proposals.”

One good thing came out of these meetings; they settled the oft-debated question of a whether to build a new Clubhouse in a different location or refurbish the existing Clubhouse, in favour of the latter alternative.

The new Board of Directors, chaired by Dr. Alastair Gill, decided to initiate a new approach which involved a review of how the Club’s finances had been handled in the past. As a result, the Finance Committee, chaired by John Rowand, began the task which led to the following recommendations:

1. Replacement cost of golf course maintenance equipment and other maintenance items would be included as part of the annual budget. This meant that the existing membership, who derived the benefit from the use of the Club facilities, would ‘pay as you go’ for wear and tear and replacement.
    
2. Operating deficits, if incurred in the course of a year, would be recovered by an assessment to the existing membership.
    
3. To meet the actual operating costs, members’ dues needed to be increased substantially and, in 1991, the members accepted this reality and approved a motion that dues be increased by approximately 29%, making ‘pay as you go’ a reality.
    
4. New members’ entrance fees were to be held and accumulated to meet larger capital requirements such as the clubhouse renovation plan.
    
5. Entrance fees were to be reviewed and maintained at an appropriate level.

Campbell, Moore and Associates were asked to produce an overall plan and a very large number of Members attended the information meetings and were able to voice their opinions. There was unanimous approval “to implement the financial and architectural proposals – with the proviso that the renovation would be taken in three stages and executed when the funds were available.”

One Member, Chris Conradi, was very concerned that the cost of doing the work, and the disruption to Clubhouse activities, in three stages would be considerably higher in three stages instead of one and proposed a sale of debenture to members to finance the completion of the work in one stage. His petition gathered so much Member support that the Board went back to work and found the necessary bank loan could be financed by the expected increase in entrance fees. This meant that the renovations and dining-room extension would begin in August 1992 and be finished in May 1993, in time for the Centenary Celebrations.

For this to be achieved, Members had to vacate the Clubhouse immediately, and prefabs were rented for “Trailer City” on the area between the putting green, the 14th green and the area leading to the 14th tee. On this small space were erected separate changing rooms and showers for ladies and gentlemen, a dining room, a kitchen, and a Pro Shop. A temporary tee reduced the 14th hole to 64 yards.

The Men’s Awards Banquet was held at Uplands Golf Club and the Ladies’ at UVic Faculty Club.

Published in April, the Centennial Calendar read as follows:

It was a busy year even without the engagements listed above. March saw the publication of Peter Corley-Smith’s history The Victoria Golf Club 1893 - 1993 and its distribution to all Members for a discreet addition to their monthly bill. The Pro Shop had an astonishing array of apparel sporting the new Club Badge – that is, the old Club Badge with the dates 1893 - 1993 beneath the design. Everyone was encouraged to drink beer from their own engraved tankards and wine from their crystal decanters.

The RCGA issued a release to say its 1993 A.G.M. would be held in Victoria in February, and reminded us that as far back as 1985 they had “selected the Victoria Golf Club as the site of the 1993 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, August 15th - 21st.” – barely two months after the opening of the new Clubhouse.

In 1894, a Miss Crease asked to join the golf club and the Committee sent her a copy of the Rules which “pointed out that lady residents can only make use of the links by becoming honorary members.”

This very much suggests a dominant male chauvinism yet only a year later Margaret Combe was recorded as the first “Ladies Champion” and the two Pemberton daughters were already keeping their clubs in the piano box. The President’s Annual Report records 27 lady members in 1896 and 34 the following year. Nevertheless, their honorary membership meant they had no representative at the Committee meetings and no say in either the rules or the finances of the club.

As the decades passed, ladies gradually developed their own traditions. Margaret Combe became the first Ladies Captain in 1906 and they were called on for advice and help for social gatherings. The tradition of ladies having preference on the tee on Tuesday mornings dates from 1966 when Muriel Osborough was Ladies Captain and her husband Bert was the men’s Captain. Presumably, the ‘quid pro quo’ was the introduction of Wednesday’s “Men’s Night”.

As the century grew towards its close, the concept of Gender Equity was finally accepted at the Club, and many changes were introduced during Ian Hadfield’s and William Hazell’s terms as President. The most important of these were:

1. Existing Playing Ladies were given the choice between becoming:
   1. an Active Lady Member with the same privileges and monthly fees as the men; OR
   2. a Limited Active Lady Member with voting privileges but the same playing privileges as before.
2. All future Lady Members would belong to class ‘a’ above;
3. Ladies would be eligible for election to the Board of Directors; the Ladies’ Captain became an ‘ex officio’ member of the Board.

All these changes have been followed up, many of them through changes to the Bylaws.

For over a hundred years, the Victoria Golf Club Members used the British traditional “black ball” system. The name of prospective members were circulated in the Club and on the election day each existing member was given one white and one black ball, easily concealable in the palm of his hand. The Secretary passed round a velvet bag and each male member in turn inserted his clenched hand into the bag and dropped his white ball if he supported the election of the applicant, or the black ball for rejection. No one would know how he had voted. He could express non-committal by dropping neither ball in the bag; not both balls. The applicant was accepted if the black balls did not exceed more than one for every four white balls, when the contents of the bag were counted.

As the membership increased during the 20th century, it became more and more difficult to arrange a time when all members could meet together, so hard-covered lined books were put in the 19th hole lounge for about a week and Members could sign in favour or otherwise. The privacy of the old system was lost, but at least most Members felt they had had a chance to vote.

The same attitudes which had brought in Gender Equity to the Club felt this election procedure was archaic; when the new millennium came, it was replaced  with a system of “Due Diligence” which holds today. Each applicant is assigned to one member of the Membership Committee who becomes responsible for meeting with the applicant, playing a round of golf with them if they so wish, showing them round the clubhouse and answering any questions they may have. The tide has turned from antagonism to cooperation.

1990 - 2000

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